Fact-Check: News Of PM Imran Being Named ‘Man Of The Year’ Is From 2019

The list of 500 Muslims published by Jordan Institute that names Prime Minister Imran Khan 'Man of the Year' was released in Oct 2019 as opposed to the perception being created by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, its supporters, and some media outlets that Imran was featured in the list again.


The news was first printed by The News on Sunday and was subsequently picked up by some foreign websites. Dawn also published the same news a day later. This also resulted in PTI's official social media account and its leaders celebrating the supposed achievement of their party chief.

However, these celebrations are one year late, as the list was first published by the Jordan Institute in 2019. According to BBC Urdu, the news at the time was also shared by the PTI official account. Moreover, according to the list, PM Imran Khan was 16th most influential Muslim.

Reacting to the way the news was disseminated, senior journalist Saleem Safi shared a link of the BBC Urdu report, saying PTI has no parallel in spreading propaganda. He said the case at hand was a classic example of the strategy employed by the PTI to spread lies.